-Jaime D.

It’s a shame most record labels don’t seem to see it that way because it means really cool music sharing sites (sharing in the “hey listen to this” sense), like muxtape.com and soundtape.com can never truly get off the ground. And it’s funny, because with direct links to Amazon, iTunes, or wherever to buy songs, those sites would be a gold mine.

Interestingly, I think Apple sees the value in music recommendation and the fact that there’s a ton of money to be made by giving people quick access to music they’ll like, as evidenced by the new Genius feature in iTunes. Sadly, Apple doesn’t seem to get the social aspect of it, so I’m not expecting to see anything in the way of easily sharing/recommending music to others.

On a side note, I’m generally a “buy things on CD guy”, but lately I have been picking quite a few albums (and even more single songs) up from the Amazon MP3 Store. When I’m at work and come across something new, the instant gratification factor is just too much to overcome.

Also, the new Straylight Run songs are fantastic live. I saw them just last week on the tour with Anberlin. That said, it definitely felt like something was missing without Michelle up there.

Straylight’s been a favorite of mine since their inception. I think I actually saw the VERY LAST Taking Back Sunday show when John and Sean were still in the band, and it wasn’t too long afterward that we heard about Straylight’s formation and the original six demos. I’ve seen them countless times and have lots of memories of the shows. I haven’t seen them since Michelle left the band recently, though I’m really aching to since I do love the three-song digital EP they just put out.

We actually just bought a new CD rack for up against the wall in the last couple months to house the ever-expanding collection. I do play almost every bit of music from a digital playback device (be it my computer which is hooked into the stereo system, or just an iPod), but I still absolutely prefer owning the CD when it’s something complete that I love.

Typically when I find a new band, I’ll see if they actually have a website. These days, most bands do have websites and they typically provide a playlist of some of their music, or at least clips of them. If that’s not available, then I’ll try to find some active torrents to see what a band sound like. Sometimes this fails, as most of the bands I’m trying find no one has ever really heard of, so no one has bothered to put up any torrents of their albums. Ironically, the process you mentioned is exactly how I found Anberlin as well.

I too like to have the actual album in my hands, but recently I’ve started to switch over to completely digital. It just makes things easier for me, and I don’t have to worry about ripping anything. Besides, I’m starting to run of space to put all my CDs.

Now, I’ve never listened to Pompeii, so you’re forcing me to give them a chance. Especially after the emotion towards the band you portrayed in this post. Anyway, I’ll throw out a band I just found, though you may have already heard of them; “Mêlée”. It’s more of a pop-rock group, and they’re from Orange County, so you can make certain assumptions already. Otherwise, “The Flaming Lips”, “Straylight Run”, and “The Shins” are some good fallback bands.